A 3 million yuan donation to establish the Cheng Rong Scholarship Fund was different from simply giving away 3 million yuan.
The university had discussed it thoroughly – would this scholarship come with strings attached for the students? If Hong Kong firms poached Huaqing’s students to work there, it would mean a brain drain of nationally trained talents. As Yang Yonghong said, students were the building blocks of socialism – though their salaries were low, they created immense value.
Any advancement in technology and craft could generate benefits exceeding 3 million yuan. Who knew what kind of talents might emerge from among the students?
Losing these crucial talents who could drive social progress would be a devastating loss!
Though Hong Kong would return to China in 12 years and was Chinese territory, it was already developed enough. Better to keep the talents here to develop the mainland first.
As long as there were no conditions attached, Huaqing University could accept this money.
Du Zhaohui’s move was brilliant, and Du Cheng Rong himself, far away in Hong Kong, was very pleased to hear about it.
Who could say Reform and Opening Up wasn’t good?
Without it, Hong Kong and the mainland wouldn’t have such smooth exchanges.
Ten years ago, could the Du family have even thought about donating to Huaqing? Hah! Someone like Du Cheng Rong, with his questionable background, would have certainly been under strict government scrutiny!
Times had truly changed. With Hong Kong’s richest man already setting a precedent by donating to build universities, it wasn’t sensitive anymore for Hong Kong businessmen to donate scholarship funds to Huaqing University. Though the Du family had done charity work in Hong Kong before, doing it in the mainland still stirred Du Cheng Rong’s emotions – after all, most Hong Kong people were mainland immigrants, there weren’t many natives, and Du Cheng Rong was no exception.
Though he’d risen to prominence from his triad background and commanded respect in Hong Kong, it still wasn’t quite the same as returning home in glory.
Du Zhaohui’s casual idea earned praise from Du Cheng Rong, the powerful figure:
“3 million is too stingy. Add another 2 million to make it 5 million.”
Given current mainland wages, it would take someone countless years to earn 5 million yuan. But for the Du family, it was merely the price of one luxury car. Du Cheng Rong would have been fine donating 10 million – he thought this was a good idea, donating 5 million to Huaqing this year, and 5 million to Peking University next year. There were so many universities on the mainland; the Du family wasn’t in a hurry. They could build their presence gradually.
The donation amount increased to 5 million.
The media came without being notified. Huaqing University held a donation ceremony where Du Zhaohui went on stage looking proper, shook hands with the principal, and got into a group photo.
A leader from the Higher Education Department attended – coincidentally, it was Deputy Director Wang.
Reporters crowded around. Xia Xiaolan was dragged by her dormmates from Room 307 to watch the excitement. This was her first time seeing Wang Guangping. When he was introduced as Director Wang and looked somewhat similar to Wang Jianhua, Xia Xiaolan immediately knew who he was!
He couldn’t be called vigorous, nor was he the pot-bellied type of official. Perhaps due to hardships during his sent-down years, Wang Guangping appeared thin, looking older than his actual age, though his spirit seemed good.
It seemed Director Wang enjoyed attending such occasions, even chatting with Du Zhaohui for a while.
Xia Xiaolan felt an inexplicable strangeness, just like how she wasn’t sure whether she should interfere with Chen Xiliang’s fate. Somehow, destiny seemed to have arranged everything already. When Du Zhaohui came to her, she told him to go to Xia Ziyu about Xia Dajun’s matter.
Young Master Du certainly wouldn’t follow her arrangement, but today, Du Zhaohui had met Wang Guangping.
And Wang Guangping was Xia Ziyu’s future father-in-law.
The reason for their meeting wasn’t forced at all – the Higher Education Department cared about university development, so of course their leader would attend when Huaqing established a private scholarship fund!
So these two people came together.
Xia Xiaolan’s expression was a bit odd, and Du Zhaohui noticed her from the stage.
Among the dense crowd below – reporters, teachers, students, all sorts of people – Du Zhaohui spotted Xia Xiaolan instantly. Damn, this girl was really beautiful!
Her face was exquisite, her waist slim, her chest full, and her legs long. Her skin was as white as snow.
When her eyes looked at people, they seemed to always contain a pool of spring water, every expression she made was alluring.
Such a bewitching natural charm couldn’t be imitated or created artificially. Such a rare beauty should be treasured, living in a mansion, driving around in luxury cars, wearing only silk clothes for fear of hurting her delicate skin, adorned with jewelry, and carrying designer bags. Forget about manual labor – those feet shouldn’t even touch the dusty ground.
Staying on the mainland was truly a waste.
Even more wasteful was that such an enchanting creature had such a stubborn personality.
Du Zhaohui absent-mindedly responded to Director Wang while thinking: seeing this donation ceremony, did Xia Xiaolan regret her previous decision?
What was so good about staying in the mainland? He’d heard mainland university graduates only earned a few dozen yuan per month.
Even working part-time at a Hong Kong tea restaurant could earn several hundred Hong Kong dollars monthly.
“Comrade Du?”
Wang Guangping noticed this person was distracted.
Well, he was a rich young man from Hong Kong, bound to be somewhat arrogant, actually getting distracted while talking to him!
Wang Guangping was displeased. Du Zhaohui brought his attention back:
“I understand Director Wang’s meaning, you want the Education Ministry to take the lead in making this scholarship program larger… To be frank, our group does have such plans, but which universities we’ll donate to later and how much we’ll donate will need to be discussed by the group. I can’t give you an answer now.”
Director Wang had approached him, immediately talking about the Higher Education Department taking the lead.
Du Zhaohui had heard about mainland customs – wasn’t this just trying to claim credit?
If the Higher Education Department took the lead, it meant this Director Wang would take the lead, making it seem like the Cheng Rong Group’s university donations were all thanks to Director Wang!
Du Zhaohui wasn’t afraid of credit-grabbing. He was a practical person who could sweetly call Du Cheng Rong “Daddy” to his face while cursing “old bastard” behind his back. What benefit could Wang Guangping, a mere deputy director of the Higher Education Department, bring Du Zhaohui?
If he could help Du Zhaohui clear some obstacles, Young Master Du would naturally support Director Wang.
But without showing any real capability, he just came up talking about organizing donations. Damn it, the money wasn’t coming from Director Wang’s pocket, so he thought he could just speak up however he wanted?!
Although several million was just car money for the Du family, it still had to be worth spending. Before seeing any benefits, Du Zhaohui wouldn’t agree to help build Wang’s political achievements.
Wang Guangping endured Du’s poor Mandarin. They talked for a long time without getting to the point.
After messing up the tutoring class situation last time, Wang Guangping indeed needed some impressive achievements, so he targeted Young Master Du, who seemed rich and foolish. Du Zhaohui’s tone was dismissive – did he think Wang couldn’t tell?
Did he look down on him for being just a deputy director of the Higher Education Department? Wang Guangping contained his annoyance.
“Comrade Du, you might not be familiar with mainland situations. Everything we do must be organized and disciplined. Even Hong Kong businessmen must follow mainland laws and regulations… Cooperating with the Higher Education Department would benefit both sides. I hope you’ll consider it carefully.”
A deputy director couldn’t help much?
Young Master Du underestimated him. Whether Wang Guangping could help was one thing, but causing trouble for Du Zhaohui was certainly possible.
If the Higher Education Department didn’t approve, today’s donation ceremony could be invalidated. If the Cheng Rong Group wanted to make future donations? That would depend on whether any universities dared to accept them!